跨链桥主动求变，LI.FI用意图架构成为TradFi机构流动性中枢

Original｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜Wenser (@wenser 2010 )

When TradFi becomes a must for the crypto industry, no project can stand aloof. However, some choose to start with asset types, while others set their sights on the companies and institutions behind the assets.

Last month, the cross-chain bridge protocol LI.FI proudly announced the launch of an intent-based execution architecture, LI.FI Intents. This product will serve as the underlying execution layer providing stablecoin payments, RWA, and compliant on-chain liquidity, targeting fintech companies, neobanks, wallets, and regulated financial institutions.

As stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant assets gradually converge with the on-chain ecosystem, Li.Fi is no longer content to be just a "liquidity transfer protocol." It is actively seeking breakthroughs and role upgrades in areas like new assets, new customers, and new operating systems.

Amidst Industry Liquidity Crunch, Cross-Chain Bridge Protocol Adapts Proactively

According to DefiLlama data, the aggregate trading volume of cross-chain bridges in the last 30 days was approximately $1.92 billion, with a weekly decline of about 1.81%. Since reaching a high of $2.974 billion in October last year, the monthly trading volume of cross-chain bridges has been slowly declining, dropping to around $1.9 billion in May, a decrease of nearly 34% from the peak.

On the other hand, the overall crypto market is in a downturn, with BTC spot trading volume down 81% from last year's highs; on-exchange liquidity has tightened further as a result.

Facing this situation, Li.Fi, as a cross-chain bridge protocol, has not sat idly by like most crypto projects. Instead, it is actively exploring new businesses, seeking new application scenarios and service targets to ensure its long-term development.

In December last year, LI.FI announced the completion of a $29 million funding round led by Multicoin and CoinFund, which brought its total funding to $52 million. At that time, the project stated it planned to use the latest funds to expand its business into different trading areas, including perpetual futures, yield opportunities, prediction markets, and lending markets.

The ample funding has given Li.Fi sufficient confidence to explore and build new products while ensuring its core business.

In April this year, LI.FI announced the launch of a new product, LI.FI Earn, offering on-chain yield functionality for enterprises with digital asset strategies. It supports strategies integrated with over 20 vault protocols through a single interface and includes built-in cross-chain execution capabilities across more than 60 chains.

In May, the intent-based execution architecture LI.FI Intents was released, marking Li.Fi's official entry into enterprise services. It empowers a range of B-end clients with underlying operational capabilities for stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant liquidity.

At a time when TradFi assets and crypto assets are converging, Li.Fi's new direction for upgrade and iteration is to reduce user barriers, improve liquidity efficiency, and unlock tokenized asset exchange channels from the operational execution layer. Compared to cross-chain protocols limited to the crypto market, providing financial services to global fintech companies, neobanks, wallets, and regulated financial institutions is undoubtedly a cash cow business with a higher ceiling.

In terms of user experience, Li.Fi Intents provides users with a simpler, plug-and-play execution solution. Reportedly, it offers market-maker-level execution through a solver network, enabling precise cross-chain swaps between stablecoins like USDC and USDT without requiring users to manage gas tokens or handle complex underlying blockchain steps. Additionally, the architecture allows applications to integrate multiple tokenized asset issuers through a unified interface.

In terms of entry barriers, LI.FI Intents is currently live on applications and wallets like Jumper and Rabby. Leveraging LI.FI Intents, enterprise users do not need to interact with any wallet, significantly lowering the understanding threshold for transfer payments, asset transfers, etc., and eliminating many cumbersome operational steps.

In terms of compliance, the network built by LI.FI Intents is composed of verified legal entities. Enterprises can review and approve corresponding orders one by one before they are processed by the transaction processing system, precisely selecting the trusted transaction processing systems. This ensures orders flow within a compliant approval system. All wallets interacting with this system will be subject to review by the U.S. OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department), effectively adding a final layer of "compliance insurance."

In terms of ecosystem, LI.FI Intents covers major blockchain networks, including the EVM ecosystem, Solana network, and Tron network. It achieves a certain level of adaptability in terms of ecosystem usability and broad coverage, avoiding potential security risks or single points of failure from heavy reliance on a single blockchain network.

Conclusion: Efficient Automated Service Behind Intent Execution

If the tokenization of US stocks and RWA assets solve the problems of asset class renewal and traditional finance entry barriers, then Li.Fi Intents aims to introduce stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant on-chain liquidity into enterprise ecosystems in a better and faster way, improving their operational efficiency and capital utilization.

More importantly, the Li.Fi Intents system is designed for intent execution. Just like destination navigation in autonomous driving, enterprise users only need to set their goals, and the intermediate execution steps are all outsourced and handled by the system.

In today's world with an abundance of asset types, the value of efficient operations will be further amplified, and Li.Fi has already taken the most critical step.